New EU public procurement rules: Less bureaucracy, higher efficiency

Since 18 April 2016, three directives on public procurement and concessions adopted in 2014 have profoundly changed the way Member States and public authorities spend a large part of the 1.9 trillion euros used on European public procurement every year.

Thanks to the new directives, public procurement in Europe will be made more efficient with smarter rules and digitalisation. Authorities that have already made the transition to eProcurement report savings between 5% and 20%. Given the size of the total procurement market in the EU, each 5% saved could return around 100 billion euros to the public purse.

The reform of public procurement has introduced new elements in four main areas:

Higher efficiency, more eProcurement and easier participation for SMEs;